The Classic Cafe at Roanoke — Restaurant in Roanoke

My husband and I ate here years ago and last night I decided to order from here for delivery through DoorDash. We ordered two ribeye steaks, asparagus, green beans, sautéed mushrooms, one lobster tale to share, bread with herbed olive oil and lastly a slice of blueberry buttermilk pie. Not an inexpensive take out but we don't mind a little splurge when we don't want to get dressed and go out.

Let me start with what was great, temperature of all food, packaging of all food and the delivery service which really has nothing to do with the review but thought I would emphasize that DoorDash did their job, the lobster was great, all veggies and bread.

What was good? The blueberry buttermilk pie, perhaps just not something I would order again or very often. It is not overly sweet, which I liked but needed something...maybe a small scoop of vanilla ice cream? Anyway, it was good.

Now for the bad. We are kinda foodies and LOVE a good steak but both ribeyes left a lot to be desired. Let me say, they were prepared correctly, medium rare maybe a touch more medium but not holding that against anyone, it happens. There was very little fat around the edges, which, OK they could have been trimmed but there was no marbeling at all throughout the entire steak. Honestly seemed more like a sirloin than a ribeye. We have eaten a lot of ribeyes in our lives and again these seemed more like sirloins. Now, I certainly don't want to make accusations but if this is the normal ribeye they serve at The Classic Cafe, well...for what is charged, they need to seriously reconsider their supplier. I personally will never waste the better part of a $100 again for this particular cut of meat from The Classic Cafe. It just didn't match up for the marbeled juiciness you know and love from your typical ribeye. Honestly, I have purchased every type of ribeye imaginable over the past 30 years from high to low and this one doesn't match up in any shape, form or fashion.

In summarization, everything but the ribeye, the main portion of our meal was good with the lobster being surprisingly great, just be careful ordering the "ribeye" for takeout especially. Had I been in the restaurant we would have sent them back without a doubt. The ribeye and that alone brings this rating to two stars. Too bad as we are always looking for a good takeout steak. Money would be better spent at Hard 8 for one of their ribeyes, much better. UPDATE: I am giving this review an update as the manager did reach out and offer to make it right. Unfortunately we will not be able to take them up offer as we no longer reside in the area. However the offer goes a long way with me and now I am updating with a 4 star experience. I just can not rate higher based on the steak we recieved...

Let me start off by saying that overall the food was amazing. My wife and I went there for her birthday. Salmon Mouse - sampling that was gifted from the chef. Very delicious salmon mouse in a pastry cup. Topped with fresh dill and caviar. Pork Belly small plate - I enjoyed the flavor of this. It tasted much like a very tender pork roast. I had expected that the outside of it would be crispy (maybe pan seared), which was not the case. If it had been this would have been amazing. As it was, it was just good :)

Rack of Lamb - Served "lolipop" style, these were very lightly breaded. The meat could be cut with a butter knife, and was very tasty Mixed Grille - Contained a piece of duck, some home made sausage, and piece of flat iron steak. The duck was the star of this dish, with a bit of savory/sweet huckleberry on the plate. The sausage was not my favorite, mainly due to the seasoning used. The flat iron was good.

Jalepeno Apple Pie - Enjoyed and different but it wasn't anything overly amazing. Part of this may have been the fact that I was full, which you could guess by the entrees.

The review doesn't really emphasize it, but I really enjoyed the food, as did my wife. I'm not one to leave 5 stars on a review, but I will call out why I couldn't for this, and some of you may love it for this reason and other avoid: the atmosphere. The place is quaint, and when I pulled up on the restaurant, I was a bit worried by the outside. It wasn't packed on a Friday night, and the pastel blue wooden building definitely highlighted the fact that this is a casual place. The inside felt a bit like an old house, which may have been the case. This is a great place for a date, but even Open Table stated that it is "casual dress," so don't expect the quiet/private romantic night out. It's casual and very relaxed. I would definitely go back, but not knowing that going in threw me off only...

After reading some good reviews and even a few word of mouth endorsements, I decided to surprise my wife with a date night to the Classic Cafe. Babysitter, check...dancing after dinner…going to be a special night, right...Anyway, the cafe is close to where we live so it's very convenient for us. Anyhow, we arrive and the place is small, but cozy, quaint, and elegant. Servers seem to be top notch so we were expecting a good experience and quality cuisine. However, the food just did not make the cut, in more ways than one. Compared to other restaurants, this has to be the most over-priced mediocre cuisine I've ever experienced. I had the 8oz filet which was meh. Quality was not that great and I’ve had a better filet at Outback at 1/3 the price…and I’m not saying it has to be Bob’s or III Forks, etc…but each time I go to these types restaurants, I always walk out saying the food was amazing and I’m not concerned over the amount of money that I have spent because it’s worth it. We were so disappointed and it put a huge damper on our(my) evening. Perhaps we may have went in with some lofty expectations, but the food in relation to the price was a HUGE disappointment. Spend the same amount of money (even less really) and go to Bob’s and have a carrot or save a bunch and go one of the chain steakhouses. BTW, overall service was very good and the servers were great as well. But, once again, the food was just not even close to...